Observations of Saharan dust impacts on East Atlantic Convection Intensity and Tropical Cyclogenesis during NAMMA-06

Aaron Pratt, Howard Univ., Washington, DC; and G. Jenkins

During the NASA component of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (NAMMA-06), numerous episodes of convection associated with African Easterly Waves (AEW) were investigated by the DC-8 aircraft. Detailed measurements of cloud microphysical properties, as well as the dynamic and thermodynamic environment in which the convection developed were also taken. This study aims to present properties of convection seem during the 13 NAMMA flights by the DC-8 aircraft. Vertical updraft speeds, cloud water content, particle sizes and concentrations, lightning, dropsonde profiles, and radar reflectivities are among some of the data that will be utilized in this study. In particular, interactions of this convection with Saharan dust will also be presented. The role that these interactions might play in cyclogenesis in the far Eastern tropical Atlantic will also be explored.